~1 minute readPC-Communiqués
A Zork Fan Turns Pro
Have you played Zork, Starcross, Witness, or another of Infocom’s adventure games, and reached a point where you couldn't figure out your next move? For the last 2 years help has been available from the Zork Users Group, which created booklets of "InvisiClues" printed in invisible ink so players could ration out secrets one at a time. (See "In Search Of The Exotic," PC, Volume 2 Number 2.)
In addition to providing the hint service, the Zork Users Group produced maps, posters, T-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers in support of Infocom's games, along with a newsletter titled The New Zork Times. There was so much demand for the group's products that its founder (known then only as “Mike") enlisted his parents, friends, and neighbors — none of them Zork players — to help service the adventure fanatics.
The Zork Users Group was so successful that it no longer exists. On completing his MBA degree this year, Michael R. Dornbrook was hired by Infocom as product manager for its entertainment software. To avoid a conflict of interest, "Mike" folded the Zork Users Group.
In the future, Infocom, will produce maps and hint books for its own games. All of the user group's InvisiClue volumes have been rewritten. Infocom now makes a practice of creating maps and sets of clues at the same time its games are authored. The clues should be available as soon as new games are released, but the booklets won’t be packaged with the software; Dornbrook said that many adventure players don’t want to be too easily tempted by the hints.
The late Zork Users Group’s buttons and bumper stickers might now be collector’s items, but the new InvisiClues can be ordered from Infocom, Inc., P.O. Box 855, Garden City, NY 11530.
This article appeared in
PC Magazine
Nov 1983
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
